Israel Wastes Billions of Food Every Years: Says Reports Published by State Comptroller

Israel Wastes Billions of Food Every Years: Says Reports Published by State Comptroller

Published on : May 06, 2015

Billions of shekels of food are wasted every year in Israel, while the people living in the country have to face acute food insecurity. The statement was made by the state comptroller in a report that was released yesterday.

The report accused officials for not keeping a track of the food problem prevalent in the country suggesting that they have been careless about keeping records and maintaining data about the food which is destroyed or goes bad every year.

According to reports in 2012, about 88 million shekels of food was wasted in Israel. Globally this accounts between 30 to 50 per cent of the total amount of food that goes into waste. On an average, Israel may be destroying almost 25 billion shekels of food every year without any proper rhyme or reason.

Food loss is not any country specific problem; rather its effects are universal. Unnecessary loss of food has a wide-ranging impact on environment, economy, and the society as a whole. Israel already suffers from acute problems of poverty and food insecurity. Moreover the economy also has to tackle issues pertaining to huge landfills corresponding to developed countries. The report released on Tuesday, suggested if the government addresses these issues, Israel would enjoy significant change in the economy.

Moreover, the state comptroller also noticed that the Agriculture Ministry of the country had not framed any policies as of yet to tackle the food surplus. Neither the growers nor the ministry follows any well determined policies for destroying crops which are surplus, owing to which thousands of tons of vegetables and fruits are unnecessarily destroyed by the country every year.